Kagan, Spencer 1996 'Six Key Concepts'
In : Cooperative learning / Spencer Kagan. San Clemente, Calif. : Kagan Cooperative
Learning, 1994. Chapter 4, pp. 4:1-4:12
Cooperative learning refers to a set of instructional strategies which include cooperative student-student interaction over subject matter as an integral part of the learning process.
Cooperative learning practices vary greatly.
- Can be as simple as having students in pairs briefly discussing points of a lecture.
- can be very complex, including the following: development of student teams) including a variety of complex teambuilding activities; development of a cooperative class atmosphere, including class building activities; special training in social roles) communication skills, and group skills; assignment of specialized roles for students within teams; specialized tasks for teams; students consulting with students from other teams; complex, multi-objective lesson designs for mastery of curriculum and thinking skills; and special scoring, recognition and reward systems for individuals) teams, and classes
1 – Teams – what is a team?
A group may be of any size, it does not necessarily have an identity or endure over time.
Cooperative learning teams in contrast, have a strong, positive team identity, ideally consist of four members, and endure over time.
Teammates know and accept each other and provide mutual support. Ability to establish a variety of types of cooperative learning teams is the first key competency of a cooperative learning teacher.
Teams that maximise heterogeneity are most common. Also are teams with a high achiever on each team, introduction and acquisition of new material becomes easier. Mixed ethnicity dramatically improves ethnic relations among students.
How are groups formed? – Students can form themselves by friendship or common interests, or can be randomly selected via draw of the hat, or can be selected by teacher. Almost all theorists prefer heterogeneous teams (mixed in ability level as well as race and sex), at least most of the time) because heterogeneous teams maximize the probability of peer tutoring and improving cross-race and cross-sex relations. (Conflicts with Gilles reading that states not enough research done but what research has been done conveys problems with heterogeneous groups encountered by female participants)
Unless you have a very homogeneous class, random teams generally cannot stay together very long without substantial differences in achievement among teams. An argument for teacher assignment is that teams can be held together for a long time and students can form a strong team identity.
Teams learn to learn together. Teachers can have the best of both worlds by having heterogeneous teams and occasional random teams.
How long should teams last?
Randomly selected – not long! luck of the draw could result in "loser teams" .
Structured teams –longer, students learn to learn together.
It is suggested teams should change every 5-6 weeks so that they can transfer their new social and academic skills to new situations.
How big should teams be?
Ideally 4. Allows pair work. Over 4 leads to less participation and more management.
2. Coopeative Management
-Room is organised so that each team mate has equal and easy access to each other, and all students comfortably orient towards teacher and blackboard.
-Teacher establishes ‘quiet signal’ which stops student interaction and directs attention to teacher direction.
-Noise level is manageable throughout student interactions.
-Efficient methods of distributing materials are exercised.
-Class rules or norms establish team as well as individual responsibilities.
3. Will to Cooperate Team-building and Class-building – creating a positive team identity, liking, respect, and trust among team members and classmates, so that there is a context within which maximum learning
can occur. Task and Reward Systems - Cooperative task structures are created when no one individual can complete the learning task alone. The most common way of creating a cooperative task structure is to require a group product -- a product which no one group member can produce without the help of the others. Another way, as in Jigsaw, is to provide each student with a unique portion of the learning material and make it the job of the group to master all the material.
Individual rewards create competition and may see those with weaker abilities not engage.
Rewards for most improved does apply to all students, but may not act as a motivating tool for all.
If rewards are given based on team or class improvement or performance, then a cooperative reward structure is created and students will begin to encourage and help each other. Group Grades - Although group grades can motivate students, they create two major problems:
Problem 1: If one student consistently performs poorly, resentments will build up among the other students. They will see the weaker student as preventing them from achieving their goal -- a good team score.
Problem.2: When group grades feed into a report card, a student's report card grade can be raised or lowered by the work of another student! This is never acceptable. A solution to this
second problem is to have team scores, but to use them as part of a recognition system, never as part of a report card grade. Motivating Cooperation Among Teams- methods range to tournaments to focusing on interactions.
One of the easiest and most certain ways of improving class climate when using student teams is to include class goals and class rewards. If teams are always set against each other by recognizing the best teams, a "civil war of teams" results; if instead class goals are set up, a positive "our classroom" feeling emerges. Each student feels a belonging to the class, encouraging the gains of others.
The reward structure is easy to manipulate. For example, it is simple for teachers to change the competitive between-team reward structure of STAD or Jigsaw II into a cooperative between-team structure
Task Structure. The between-team task structure also can be cooperative, competitive, or independent as well. For example, the work of each team may contribute to the goals of the other teams, or there may be competition for limited resources between teams. Division of labour among teams (unique team products which contribute to a class goal) is the easiest way to create a cooperative between-team task structure; identical team goals for each team and competition for
limited resources are ways to create a competitive between-team task structure.
4. Skill To Cooperate Task Structure. The between-team task structure also can be cooperative' competitive, or independent as well. For example, the work of each team may contribute to the goals of the other teams, or there may be competition for limited resources between teams. Division of labor among teams (unique team products which contribute to a class goal) is the easiest way to create a cooperative between-team task structure; identical team goals for each team and competition for limited resources are ways to create a competitive between-team task structure.
Some theorists include social skill development as a defining characteristic of cooperative learning –others do not.
There is a variety of ways of fostering the development of social skills, including modelling, defining, role-playing, observing, reinforcing, processing, and practicing specific social skills. It is also possible to structure for skill acquisition by role assignment and use of specific structures. The four most important methods are modelling and reinforcement, role assignments, structuring, and reflection.
5. Basic Principles (PIES)
When anyone of the four principles is not implemented, we do not have cooperative learning.
1 - Positive Interdependence– occurs when gains of individuals or teams are positively correlated. If a gain for one student is associated with gains for other students, the individuals are positively interdependent. Similarly, if the gains of one team contribute to the probability that another team will be successful, then the teams are positively interdependent.
Weak Forms: 1. The success of each team member is likely to contribute to success of others. 2 The success of teams is likely to be facilitated by success of individual members.
Intermediate Forms: 1 - The success of each team member contributes to success of all teammates, but a team member could succeed on own. 2 - The success of a team is facilitated by the success of each member, but team could succeed without success or contribution of every member.
Strong Forms: 1. The success of every team member is not possible without success/contribution of each. 2. The success of a team is not possible without success or contribution of each member.
Structuring
Positive interdependence can be created by the task structure (having a single team or class product, including division of labour among teams or individuals, limiting resources, or having a rule that a group cannot progress to a new learning centre until all, the students have completed an assignment).
Positive interdependence can be created also by the reward structure (creating a team score which is an average of individual scores or the sum of how many students reached a predetermined criterion, choosing a randomly selected individual paper as the team score, selecting the lowest score on the team as the team score). Other ways of creating positive interdependence involve roles, goals, and resources.
Positive Interdependence
I. Goals- We all have same goal: A team mural, essay, model, or report.
2. Rewards- Team recognition based on the contributions all make.
3. Task - The task is structured so we can't do it alone: We need eight hands for this job; division of labor is more efficient; we all have important mini- topics.
4. Resources- I have the scissors, you have the paper, Jim has the glue, and Mary has the marker.
5. Roles Complementary and necessary roles: Materials Monitor, Question Commander, Coach, Encourager, Reflector, Quiet Captain, Praiser, Cheerleader, Checker, Gatekeeper, Taskmaster, Recorder.
2. Individual Accountability- Including individual accountability contributes to academic gains in cooperative learning. Methods which provide a group grade or a group product without .making each member accountable for his or her contribution, do not consistently produce achievement gains.
Students can be made individually accountable by having each student receive a grade on his or her portion of the team essay or project; by having each student responsible for a unique portion of a team learning material, presentation, or product; or by instituting the rule that the group may not go on to another learning centre until everyone finishes his/her task at the present learning centre. Whatever the form of individual accountability, the contribution of each individual is made known to the team.
Individual Accountability Structuring
For Achievement
1. Color code individual contributions
2. Team scores based on individual·scores
3. Give teams time to reflect on individual progress & role performance
4. Assign &grade Mini-Topics
5. Use structures like Numbered Heads Together
For Participation
1. Use Talking Chips
2. Have students summarize their participation
3. Have students take time to, reflect on participation
For Listening
1. Use Paraphrase Passport, Three-Step Interview
2. Share ideas heard from others «I heard from..."
3. Equal Participation - Participation is an integral part of the learning process. Students learn by interacting with the content and with fellow students. Participation is an essential ingredient for student success; equal participation is an essential ingredient for the success of all students. If we do not structure for equal participation, it will not occur magically: Without structure, volunteer participation in heterogeneous teams gravitates toward unequal participation.
Equal participation is distinct from simultaneous interaction. The critical question to determine if there is simultaneous interaction is "What percentage of the class are active participants at anyone moment?" During a Pair Discussion the simultaneity principle is satisfied (50% of the class are producing language at anyone moment), but the equality principle is not (in many pairs one person does all or almost all the talking). Cooperative learning as opposed to group work satisfies all four of the PIES principles, so we conclude a Pair Discussion is group work, not cooperative learning.
In general, equal participation may be created by: 1) turn allocation and 2) division of labour. Turn allocation establishes a participatory norm. Students are not only given the opportunity to participate, but they are expected to contribute during their turn. 4. Simultaneous Interaction - Cooperative learning involves simultaneous interaction among students. This simple fact goes a long way toward explaining the advantage of cooperative learning over traditional teaching. In the traditional classroom, one person at a time speaks, usually the teacher, but occasionally a student, as the student is called on by the teacher. This is a sequential structure, in that each person participates in turn, one after the other in sequence
6. Structure- As we have seen there are many cooperative learning structures, each with a different domain of usefulness.
Because each of the structures presented performs at least one function better than any other structure, knowledge of each structure is essential if a teacher is to be as efficient as possible in
reaching the range of learning objectives.
In : Cooperative learning / Spencer Kagan. San Clemente, Calif. : Kagan Cooperative
Learning, 1994. Chapter 4, pp. 4:1-4:12
Cooperative learning refers to a set of instructional strategies which include cooperative student-student interaction over subject matter as an integral part of the learning process.
Cooperative learning practices vary greatly.
- Can be as simple as having students in pairs briefly discussing points of a lecture.
- can be very complex, including the following: development of student teams) including a variety of complex teambuilding activities; development of a cooperative class atmosphere, including class building activities; special training in social roles) communication skills, and group skills; assignment of specialized roles for students within teams; specialized tasks for teams; students consulting with students from other teams; complex, multi-objective lesson designs for mastery of curriculum and thinking skills; and special scoring, recognition and reward systems for individuals) teams, and classes
1 – Teams – what is a team?
A group may be of any size, it does not necessarily have an identity or endure over time.
Cooperative learning teams in contrast, have a strong, positive team identity, ideally consist of four members, and endure over time.
Teammates know and accept each other and provide mutual support. Ability to establish a variety of types of cooperative learning teams is the first key competency of a cooperative learning teacher.
Teams that maximise heterogeneity are most common. Also are teams with a high achiever on each team, introduction and acquisition of new material becomes easier. Mixed ethnicity dramatically improves ethnic relations among students.
How are groups formed? – Students can form themselves by friendship or common interests, or can be randomly selected via draw of the hat, or can be selected by teacher. Almost all theorists prefer heterogeneous teams (mixed in ability level as well as race and sex), at least most of the time) because heterogeneous teams maximize the probability of peer tutoring and improving cross-race and cross-sex relations. (Conflicts with Gilles reading that states not enough research done but what research has been done conveys problems with heterogeneous groups encountered by female participants)
Unless you have a very homogeneous class, random teams generally cannot stay together very long without substantial differences in achievement among teams. An argument for teacher assignment is that teams can be held together for a long time and students can form a strong team identity.
Teams learn to learn together. Teachers can have the best of both worlds by having heterogeneous teams and occasional random teams.
How long should teams last?
Randomly selected – not long! luck of the draw could result in "loser teams" .
Structured teams –longer, students learn to learn together.
It is suggested teams should change every 5-6 weeks so that they can transfer their new social and academic skills to new situations.
How big should teams be?
Ideally 4. Allows pair work. Over 4 leads to less participation and more management.
2. Coopeative Management
-Room is organised so that each team mate has equal and easy access to each other, and all students comfortably orient towards teacher and blackboard.
-Teacher establishes ‘quiet signal’ which stops student interaction and directs attention to teacher direction.
-Noise level is manageable throughout student interactions.
-Efficient methods of distributing materials are exercised.
-Class rules or norms establish team as well as individual responsibilities.
3. Will to Cooperate
Team-building and Class-building – creating a positive team identity, liking, respect, and trust among team members and classmates, so that there is a context within which maximum learning
can occur.
Task and Reward Systems - Cooperative task structures are created when no one individual can complete the learning task alone. The most common way of creating a cooperative task structure is to require a group product -- a product which no one group member can produce without the help of the others. Another way, as in Jigsaw, is to provide each student with a unique portion of the learning material and make it the job of the group to master all the material.
Individual rewards create competition and may see those with weaker abilities not engage.
Rewards for most improved does apply to all students, but may not act as a motivating tool for all.
If rewards are given based on team or class improvement or performance, then a cooperative reward structure is created and students will begin to encourage and help each other.
Group Grades - Although group grades can motivate students, they create two major problems:
Problem 1: If one student consistently performs poorly, resentments will build up among the other students. They will see the weaker student as preventing them from achieving their goal -- a good team score.
Problem.2: When group grades feed into a report card, a student's report card grade can be raised or lowered by the work of another student! This is never acceptable. A solution to this
second problem is to have team scores, but to use them as part of a recognition system, never as part of a report card grade.
Motivating Cooperation Among Teams- methods range to tournaments to focusing on interactions.
One of the easiest and most certain ways of improving class climate when using student teams is to include class goals and class rewards. If teams are always set against each other by recognizing the best teams, a "civil war of teams" results; if instead class goals are set up, a positive "our classroom" feeling emerges. Each student feels a belonging to the class, encouraging the gains of others.
The reward structure is easy to manipulate. For example, it is simple for teachers to change the competitive between-team reward structure of STAD or Jigsaw II into a cooperative between-team structure
Task Structure. The between-team task structure also can be cooperative, competitive, or independent as well. For example, the work of each team may contribute to the goals of the other teams, or there may be competition for limited resources between teams. Division of labour among teams (unique team products which contribute to a class goal) is the easiest way to create a cooperative between-team task structure; identical team goals for each team and competition for
limited resources are ways to create a competitive between-team task structure.
4. Skill To Cooperate
Task Structure. The between-team task structure also can be cooperative' competitive, or independent as well. For example, the work of each team may contribute to the goals of the other teams, or there may be competition for limited resources between teams.
Division of labor among teams (unique team products which contribute to a class goal) is the easiest way to create a cooperative between-team task structure; identical team goals for each team and competition for limited resources are ways to create a competitive between-team task structure.
Some theorists include social skill development as a defining characteristic of cooperative learning –others do not.
There is a variety of ways of fostering the development of social skills, including modelling, defining, role-playing, observing, reinforcing, processing, and practicing specific social skills. It is also possible to structure for skill acquisition by role assignment and use of specific structures. The four most important methods are modelling and reinforcement, role assignments, structuring, and reflection.
5. Basic Principles (PIES)
When anyone of the four principles is not implemented, we do not have cooperative learning.
1 - Positive Interdependence – occurs when gains of individuals or teams are positively correlated. If a gain for one student is associated with gains for other students, the individuals are positively interdependent. Similarly, if the gains of one team contribute to the probability that another team will be successful, then the teams are positively interdependent.
Weak Forms: 1. The success of each team member is likely to contribute to success of others. 2 The success of teams is likely to be facilitated by success of individual members.
Intermediate Forms: 1 - The success of each team member contributes to success of all teammates, but a team member could succeed on own. 2 - The success of a team is facilitated by the success of each member, but team could succeed without success or contribution of every member.
Strong Forms: 1. The success of every team member is not possible without success/contribution of each. 2. The success of a team is not possible without success or contribution of each member.
Structuring
Positive interdependence can be created by the task structure (having a single team or class product, including division of labour among teams or individuals, limiting resources, or having a rule that a group cannot progress to a new learning centre until all, the students have completed an assignment).
Positive interdependence can be created also by the reward structure (creating a team score which is an average of individual scores or the sum of how many students reached a predetermined criterion, choosing a randomly selected individual paper as the team score, selecting the lowest score on the team as the team score). Other ways of creating positive interdependence involve roles, goals, and resources.
Positive Interdependence
I. Goals- We all have same goal: A team mural, essay, model, or report.
2. Rewards- Team recognition based on the contributions all make.
3. Task - The task is structured so we can't do it alone: We need eight hands for this job; division of labor is more efficient; we all have important mini- topics.
4. Resources- I have the scissors, you have the paper, Jim has the glue, and Mary has the marker.
5. Roles Complementary and necessary roles: Materials Monitor, Question Commander, Coach, Encourager, Reflector, Quiet Captain, Praiser, Cheerleader, Checker, Gatekeeper, Taskmaster, Recorder.
2. Individual Accountability - Including individual accountability contributes to academic gains in cooperative learning. Methods which provide a group grade or a group product without .making each member accountable for his or her contribution, do not consistently produce achievement gains.
Students can be made individually accountable by having each student receive a grade on his or her portion of the team essay or project; by having each student responsible for a unique portion of a team learning material, presentation, or product; or by instituting the rule that the group may not go on to another learning centre until everyone finishes his/her task at the present learning centre. Whatever the form of individual accountability, the contribution of each individual is made known to the team.
Individual Accountability Structuring
For Achievement
1. Color code individual contributions
2. Team scores based on individual·scores
3. Give teams time to reflect on individual progress & role performance
4. Assign &grade Mini-Topics
5. Use structures like Numbered Heads Together
For Participation
1. Use Talking Chips
2. Have students summarize their participation
3. Have students take time to, reflect on participation
For Listening
1. Use Paraphrase Passport, Three-Step Interview
2. Share ideas heard from others «I heard from..."
3. Equal Participation - Participation is an integral part of the learning process. Students learn by interacting with the content and with fellow students. Participation is an essential ingredient for student success; equal participation is an essential ingredient for the success of all students. If we do not structure for equal participation, it will not occur magically: Without structure, volunteer participation in heterogeneous teams gravitates toward unequal participation.
Equal participation is distinct from simultaneous interaction. The critical question to determine if there is simultaneous interaction is "What percentage of the class are active participants at anyone moment?" During a Pair Discussion the simultaneity principle is satisfied (50% of the class are producing language at anyone moment), but the equality principle is not (in many pairs one person does all or almost all the talking). Cooperative learning as opposed to group work satisfies all four of the PIES principles, so we conclude a Pair Discussion is group work, not cooperative learning.
In general, equal participation may be created by: 1) turn allocation and 2) division of labour. Turn allocation establishes a participatory norm. Students are not only given the opportunity to participate, but they are expected to contribute during their turn.
4. Simultaneous Interaction - Cooperative learning involves simultaneous interaction among students. This simple fact goes a long way toward explaining the advantage of cooperative learning over traditional teaching. In the traditional classroom, one person at a time speaks, usually the teacher, but occasionally a student, as the student is called on by the teacher. This is a sequential structure, in that each person participates in turn, one after the other in sequence
6. Structure- As we have seen there are many cooperative learning structures, each with a different domain of usefulness.
Because each of the structures presented performs at least one function better than any other structure, knowledge of each structure is essential if a teacher is to be as efficient as possible in
reaching the range of learning objectives.